Diets are all over the board at the beginning of the year and while we don’t promote any particular one because every individual is unique in their needs, here are the ones we’ve been seeing get a lot of attention!

Anti-Inflammatory

The anti-inflammatory diet has been around for quite some time and when you break down the idea behind this diet it mirrors some big principles of what we as dietitians like to see people include. Things like fatty fish, avocado and olive oils, loading up on vegetables (especially the dark leafy greens), nuts, fruits, and whole grains. The foods that cause more inflammation in the body are things like fried foods, sugar filled beverages, refined carbohydrates, processed meats, lard

Clean Eating

“Clean Eating” is not a regulated term, nor is it a ‘diet’ per say but rather a lifestyle. Some ways to ‘eat clean’ might be to pick whole foods over their higher processed option. For example, a potato over freezer potato fries. Loading up on whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and lean protein. Many people also lump into this style of eating, eliminating or reducing the amount of artificial ingredients, caffeine and alcohol. While organic still uses pesticide sprays, this can be another thing to consider for the folks who are practicing ‘clean eating’. 

Mindful Eating

First things first, this is not a “diet”. It’s more of a lifestyle and finding what foods nourish your body and when. For example you can have anything like twinkies all day if you so pleased and while you may lose weight, you may notice some other less desirable side effects. Another important note here is that there is no legal definition of what this way of eating entails. The premise is that you trust your body and lean into what sounds good, and nourishes you. For example if you don’t like kale, you probably aren’t apt to try a kale blueberry protein smoothie for breakfast. It takes into consideration your food preferences and marries them together with learning when you’re hungry and when you’re full.